Republicans from the presidential ticket on down pounced Saturday on Hillary Clinton’s remarks that half of Donald J. Trump’s supporters fit into a “basket of deplorables,” saying it showed she was out of touch with an economically hard-hit electorate.

Mrs. Clinton’s comments Friday night, which were a variation of a sentiment she has expressed in other settings recently, came at a fund-raiser in Manhattan.

“You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right?” she said to applause and laughter. “The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic — you name it. And unfortunately there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.”

By Saturday morning, #BasketofDeplorables was trending on Twitter as Mr. Trump’s campaign demanded an apology. His supporters hoped to use the remark as evidence that Mrs. Clinton cannot connect to the voters she hopes to represent as president.

“Wow, Hillary Clinton was SO INSULTING to my supporters, millions of amazing, hard working people. I think it will cost her at the polls!” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter.

Speaking at the Values Voter Summit, a gathering of Christian conservatives in Washington on Saturday, Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, Mr. Trump’s running mate, said: “Hillary, they are not a basket of anything. They are Americans and they deserve your respect.”

By Saturday afternoon, Mrs. Clinton had acknowledged her stumble. “Last night I was ‘grossly generalistic,’ and that’s never a good idea,” she said in a statement. “I regret saying ‘half’ — that was wrong.” […]

The first thing I can’t help but notice is the title the New York Slimes chose to run this story under, fixating on the “… and the G.O.P. Pounces” part. That signifies that they are saying that this is just political posturing; Hillary didn’t say anything truly bad. It’s like her emails and her illegal secret server and her Clinton Foundation pay-for-play proofs; nothing really wrong. It must just be Republicans going after her over sheer politics. So let’s move on.

But now let’s see how the same New York Slimes covered Mitt Romney when he did something that actually wasn’t as bad either in terms of numbers (he said 47%; she said HALF) or nastiness (he insinuated that poor people would vote to get stuff without demonizing their characters; she said half of the American people are EVIL):

WASHINGTON — During a private reception with wealthy donors this year, Mitt Romney described almost half of Americans as “people who pay no income tax” and are “dependent upon government.” Those voters, he said, would probably support President Obama because they believe they are “victims” who are “entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.”

In a brief and hastily called news conference Monday just after 10 p.m., Mr. Romney acknowledged having made the blunt political and cultural assessment, saying it was “not elegantly stated,” but he stood by the substance of the remarks, insisting that he had made similar observations in public without generating controversy.

The video of Mr. Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, was made in May, offering a rare glimpse of his personal views. Mr. Romney told reporters that he had been “speaking off the cuff in response to a question” at the fund-raiser, and said he wanted “to help all Americans — all Americans — have a bright, prosperous future.”

Democrats quickly condemned the remarks as insensitive, and Mr. Obama’s campaign accused Mr. Romney of having “disdainfully written off half the nation.”

The video surfaced as the campaign enters its final 50 days and as Mr. Romney sought to restart his campaign with new ads and new messaging, in response to calls in his campaign and from outside for him to be more specific about how his policies would fix the nation’s economy and help the middle class.

Now, the video has raised the possibility that Mr. Romney’s campaign will be sidetracked, with attention focused again on his proposed tax cuts for the wealthy, the release of his personal tax returns and his ability to connect with middle-class voters. With its unvarnished language, the video seems to undermine what aides have argued is an enduring attribute that would appeal to independent voters: a sense that Mr. Romney is, at base, an empathetic and caring man.

First of all, notice in the title of the article there is no qualifying “… and Democrats Pounce.” Because on the leftist warped narrative, ONLY Republicans are capable of partisan politics. When a Republican is outraged, it is because they are playing politics; when a Democrat is outraged, it is only and always because Republicans are evil.

But second of all, I want you to notice that whether you like Romney’s remarks or not, HE WAS DEALING WITH SIMPLE FACTS. Whereas Hillary Clinton deals only with demonic slander and hate. She doesn’t have a statistic to cite (47% of Trump supporters have physically beaten or lynched a black man…”) because there AREN’T any and because the ONLY people who have physically beaten or lynched ANYONE in this campaign have been DEMOCRATS attacking Republican Trump supporters.

Mitt Romney talked about a FACT relating to 47% of the Democrat Party base; Hillary Clinton talked about a SLANDER of HALF of the Republican base. In a fair, objective world, Bloomberg would be writing the article titled, “Today Hillary Clinton Lost the Election.” But you know full damn well they won’t; because to be a “journalist” today is to be a liar who looks at every story and asks, “How do I twist this, slant this, pervert this to my ideology?”

To be a Democrat you have to HAVE a twisted and perverted ideology. And you need professionally-trained experts in deceit to rewrite the news for the people to get them to swallow those lies.

Hillary Clinton apologized, we’re told. But really? She doesn’t apologize for claiming that Trump supporters are racist; she apologizes for suggesting that “half” of them are. You know, when maybe only “47 percent” are racist.

It was an ugly comment from an ugly human being, a human being who is now proven to be pathologically unfit for the presidency by ANY measurement.

And yeah, Trump is pounding on it the SAME way Obama pounded Romney:

“People like you, you and YOU ‘deplorable,'” the ad correctly points out.

Trump said:

“At first I thought it wasn’t within the realm of possible that she said it,” he said. “She doubled up, because it was said with such anger, such unbelievable anger, and I think this is the biggest mistake of the political season. I really do. When I saw this in its full form, and I saw the anger with which she said it, the way she spoke, I think it’s the single biggest mistake of the political season.” […]

“You cannot run for president if you have such contempt in your heart for the American voter,” she said. “You can’t lead this nation if you have such a low opinion of its citizens.”

In larger context, Trump said in his speech today:

All across this country, I’ve met so many incredible members of both our military and law enforcement community. There’s nothing I’ve enjoyed more than the time I’ve spent with our service members, police officers, and also our firefighters and paramedics.

They embody the goodness and decency of our country.

I was thus deeply shocked and alarmed this Friday to hear my opponent attack, slander, smear and demean these wonderful, amazing people who are supporting our campaign.

Our support comes from every part of America, and every walk of life. We have the support of cops and soldiers, carpenters and welders, the young and the old, and millions of working class families who just want a better future.

These were the people Hillary Clinton so viciously demonized. These were among the countless Americans that Hillary Clinton called deplorable, irredeemable and un-American. She called these patriotic men and women every vile name in the book – she called them racist, sexist, xenophobic, and Islamaphobic.

She called them a “basket of deplorables” in both a speech and an interview. She divides people into baskets as though they were objects, not human beings.

Hillary Clinton made these comments at one of her high-dollar fundraisers in Wall Street.

She and her wealthy donors all had a good laugh. They were laughing at the very people who pave the roads she drives on, paint the buildings she speaks in, and keep the lights on in her auditorium.

Hillary Clinton is an insider, supported by powerful insiders, attacking Americans who have no political power.

Hillary Clinton spoke with hatred and derision for the people who make this country run.

She spoke with contempt for the people who thanklessly follow the rules, pay their taxes, and scratch out a living for their families.

While Hillary Clinton lives a sequestered life behind gates and walls and guards, she mocks and demeans hardworking Americans who only want their own families to enjoy a fraction of the security enjoyed by our politicians.

After months of hiding from the press, Hillary Clinton has revealed her true thoughts.

She revealed herself to be a person who looks down on the proud citizens of our country as subjects for her to rule over.

Her comments displayed the same sense of arrogance and entitlement that led her to violate federal law as Secretary of State, hide and delete her emails, put classified information in the reach of our enemies, lie to Congress, and sell government favors and access through her Foundation.

It’s the same attitude that explains why Hillary Clinton refuses to take accountability for the deadly disasters she helped to create in Iraq, in Syria and in Libya.

To this day, she still won’t take accountability for her role in unleashing ISIS across the Middle East – or for putting Iran on the path to a nuclear weapon.

Hillary Clinton believes she is above the law, that she is above accountability, and that she is above each and every one of you.

Our campaign is about giving voice to the voiceless. It’s about representing the forgotten men and women of this country.

I’m here to represent everyone, but especially those who are struggling against injustice and unfairness.

I am running so that the powerful can no longer beat up on the powerless. I’m running to take on the special interests, the big donors, and the corrupt political insiders.

I am running to be your voice.

If Mitt Romney disqualified himself to be president, Hillary Clinton FAR MORE disqualified herself to be president.

Not by my standard, but by everyone who votes DEMOCRAT.

And the ONLY reason Democrats will vote for Hillary Clinton now is that they are the WORST sort of people there are, vile, twisted hypocrites who will ALWAYS distort the truth and the facts and reality to suit their warped ideology.

Let me ask the question, “What is the FINAL SOLUTION” to Hillary Clinton’s now-repeated claim that Republicans are a “basket of deplorables”???

I mean, put them in death camps, or maybe Stalinistic re-education centers, right? We can’t have these hateful, awful people free to just run around with this kind of hate and evil in them.

This has ALWAYS been the invariable, inevitable path of leftism. The socialist communists were far left wing monsters; the Nazis where every damn bit as socialist and were merely to the “right” of the most far leftist communists. Hitler offered his Nazism as a “third way” between the communism of one side and the free market laissez-faire capitalism that has always been cherished by conservatives. NAZI stood for “National Socialist German Workers Party.” And if there were a “National Socialist American Workers Party,” you can’t be stupid enough not to think these wouldn’t be today’s Democrats.

Two days ago my mother told me about a man offering a solar deal coming to their home. He had lied when my father asked him if there was any investment required, but it quickly turned out that, yes, there was, because it was a “rent to own” deal. The man said there was no cost to this program; but that was just a lie to get his foot in the door and try to sell something to a couple of stupid old people. You know, in a program that wouldn’t exist unless the federal government were so massively subsidizing solar that it is beyond unreal.

After learning the truth, my parents swiftly lost interest. And the guy turned to politics, asking who they were going to vote for.

My parents said they were going to hold their nose and vote for Trump. And the guy – who said his wife was Hispanic – immediately launched into his attack. “What are you going to do when the people who do all the jobs you aren’t willing to do aren’t here?”

He attacked my parents’ religion, asking “Are they as mean as you up above?”

Well, it’s a damn good thing for that turd that I wasn’t there. Because I would have IMMEDIATELY gone after him as the racist bigot that he is. What is he saying? He’s flat-out stating that white people are lazy and indolent and incapable of doing any kind of hard labor. The Democrats have ALWAYS viewed the world through a vile, racist perspective. They just can’t help themselves. And they spent 200 years viciously attacking black people and minorities before concluding, “if you can’t beat them, co-opt them and get them on your plantation a different way.” And so now it’s just the same racism they’ve always held in reverse: now it’s white people who can’t work.

So now he’s telling us that inferior white people would STARVE because there would be no fitter race to pick their food for them.

My mom says he mentioned the guys who climb up into trees and asked my mom if she’d do that. Well, damn, you fool turd, my mom is eighty years old!!! What kind of stupid jackass ARE you? How many 80-year-old Mexicans are climbing up in trees to trim them for a damn living???

I would have been all in his face screaming, “GET OUT of here, you racist pile of bigoted rodent filth! We don’t need your kind of race-roach crawling around our home!”

Just as we don’t need Hillary Clinton anywhere near the White House.

Hillary Clinton just proved herself to be unfit for the presidency. She didn’t prove herself to be unfit by Republican standards; she proved herself to be unfit by the very same standard that was applied against Republicans by Democrats just four years ago.

Every vote for Hillary Clinton is a statement about people who support a part that is nothing but hypocritical to its very core.